Keeping your seasoned firewood dry if you don't have a regular shelter for it.

[woodsroad]

I cover the stacks with EPDM roofing scraps. Wood is stored criss-cross on 40x48 plastic pallets, the EPDM is cut to just hang over the sides a bit. Why? Ice and snow for sure, but also because moisture encourages bugs and rot.

I find that once the wood is covered, the insect population begins to drop. Yeah, they head over to my piles of uncovered logs, I'm sure, but I find that covered seasoned wood is heavier and burns better than uncovered wood.

This year, I'm also trying something new to keep the ants in check. After splitting a couple of black locusts that had sizable ant colonies, I started spraying the stacks with a weak Borax solution. About a cup of Borax to 3 gal of warm water in a sprayer. A friend of mine has been doing this for several years and says it has eliminated all ant colonies from the woodpile. No downsides to burning borax treated wood, unlike pesticides. I also sprayed the log piles.

 

[Sethsfirewood]

This is what I do. I sell close to 30 cords a year and I have limited space, so efficiently stacking my supply is imperative.

I stack mine on 4'x4' pallets and 5' feet high. (Straight stacked it would be 4'x4'x4', however since it is cross stacked, you have to add an extra foot so it is easy to measure out 1/4 and 1/2 cord sales)

Unfortunately, I do not have the space to organize these in a line and probably at most I have had them in a formation of 5 deep by 13 long. I understand that this is not optimal, but I suppose it is what it is. I cover them with 6'x8' tarps from my local Lowes and I fold over the excess tarp and then place four 23" cedar logs in a square on top to weigh down the top.

Listen guys, there are so many factors which go into drying wood and while everyone has their specific way of doing things, the climate, location, environmental factors (sunshine and wind flow levels), types of wood, greenness of wood, location of growing environment, etc. all play a factor in the quality of properly seasoned firewood.

For me, allowing rain and snow to infiltrate my stacks have proven to be less than effective. In my experience, sunlight only affects the top layers, but rain and melting snow permeate and fester in the stack.

Hope this helps, but overall, I believe experience will prove to be the best solution as everyone's situation is different. I for one cover and protect the wood.

 

[Retired]

When I bought this place (from an estate) I was delighted that there was about 10 cords of split wood stacked in the timber behind the house. The old boy who owned the place before me had been in the nursing home 5 years, so I figure everything in those stacks was at least 6 years old, and the majority more like 10 years.

When I dug into those stacks I was a little disappointed. This was about half oak and the rest hickory and walnut. From 10 cords I salvaged about 1 cord. By dissecting those piles I made my own rules for my own wood:

1) Don't stack on the ground. The big culprit here was varmints digging in and throwing dirt up into the stack. Oddly enough there were about 30 pallets out there that he never used.

2) Don't stack more than two rows deep. These stacks were 5 deep and it was apparent that the middle got wet and didn't have enough air flow to dry back out.

3) Start your stack with the cover, finish your stack with the cover. By this I mean know what size your cover is going to be, and make your stack such that it will fit under your cover. I learned that a 14' sheet of tin on an 18' stack of wood really doesn't help that much.

"here": I put down 8 pallets, two rows of 20" wood, and cover with 4 sheets of corrugated tin. That gives me some overlap every way.

4) Use the cover. "Here" the big culprit was not moisture so much as leaves and other debris falling in from the top. What little wood I did salvage was under a sheet of tin. Again, oddly enough, there was about 36 sheets of 14' tin out there in a pile, unused.

5) Stack in loose, don't pack it tight. I swear the old boy who was here thought he had to pack every space with a stick. The majority of what I salvaged was pieces almost too big to pick up with one hand, bark off, mostly unsplit. The worst of what I discarded was packed tight and either had it's bark on or was packed in with sticks that had the bark on, drawing moisture.

I move about a cord of wood into the basement just before I need it. I've got about 10 cords of my own splitting out at the edge of the timber now.

Good luck.

Dave

 

[c5rulz]

I agree with Whitespider.

Wood exposed to wind and sun dries faster and rain/snow is just a temporary nuisance. If it's wet or snow covered that is just the surface of the splits, the wood is set in the stack near the stove and will not be used for a couple weeks. It will dry within a couple days being near the stove.

I dry on pallets off the ground and no more than two stacks wide.

 

[Ayatollah]

Although in most cases cured wood will dry fairly quickly when brought in from the immediate weather, When you put wet wood in, the steam generated inside your fireplace/woodstove will further soot sticking to the sides of it as it travels upwards. I've seen the difference immediately

I built two little woodsheds this past year, and I've been keeping what won't fit under them covered for the most part. Plus, it looks all nice and tidy

 

[Big_Al]

Here we have hot dry summers & early fall, usually get pretty cool & wet in Oct-Nov. Winters are cold and snowy. So my wood is uncovered all summer , covered with tarp on top when late fall arrives. Never liked having to carry in a bunch of snow covered wood.

 

[stihl023/5]

Here we have hot dry summers & early fall, usually get pretty cool & wet in Oct-Nov. Winters are cold and snowy. So my wood is uncovered all summer , covered with tarp on top when late fall arrives. Never liked having to carry in a bunch of snow covered wood.

+1:msp_thumbup:

 

[shades2914]

I stack mine on pallets 2 rows on the outside of the pallet with a space in the middle for air flow. Then I take a lumber wrapper and cut it in half the long way. Then flip it upside down, the ones I get are black on bottom. I feel like the sun hitting it makes it even warmer. Only the top is covered. With the wind and sun I've never had trouble with having dry wood.

 

[turnkey4099]

I dont' cover my stacks at all. My "wood for this season" is moved from the ouitside stacks to the woodshed and back porch. If I run out (happens sometimes in spring) I haul from the outside stacks. Snow covered/wet from rain? I toss the top layer or two aside and am into dry wood.

Harry K

 

[H 2 H]

In the summer mine starts here

Goes to here before winter starts

Than into the garage

And the stuff I'm getting now I stack it in stacks like this (But this is a small one)

I'm in the PNW and it does rain a little up here

 

[Fred Wright]

Sounds like you've got it right.

I've been working on getting two years ahead in firewood. The stack I made last year is covered on top with 6-mil black plastic. The stack we're currently using is covered as well. The stack I'm working up now, I won't cover it until next fall.

I agree that exposure to rain probably won't harm seasoned firewood. But I just don't care for fussing with the stuff when it's been rained or snowed on. Several days of rain and damp weather make for a mess. Snow slides off the plastic cover and the wood is nice and dry.

A split that's been covered and is bone-dry beats one than one that's been laying out in the rain. The wet split has to dry out in the stove before it'll catch. Been there & done that, never again. I'll keep my wood covered on top, thanks very much.

The top cover will have some condensation underneath but as long as you get good airflow under it, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Mac88]

We keep around 8 cords in the woodshed, usually enough for the winter. The remainder is stacked outdoors, on skids, uncovered. After winter we clean out the shed and refill it with wood from outside. It's dry by the time we need it.

 

[woodbooga]

This all depends on your climate. If I can get the stack to stay upright I cover the just cut firewood with some sheets of metal roofing and then maybe a tarp on top of that. Sides are left open. Then, after sitting that way through the summer, I move it into a shed in the fall. It'll go in the back. So far, I've only used about half the wood in the shed during a full winter, so the next fall, that wood gets moved up to the front.

Wood won't get dry here if left uncovered. It rots. I made the mistake of throwing a tarp over what I'd thrown out of the pickup and split. After a couple of weeks, the wood was starting to grow fungi.

We have 9 months, or more, of wet weather. This year, we had a very dry August and September, and I uncovered the woodpile for that. I'm starting to ponder building another woodshed, but with all open sides on it.

We cut our firewood in the fall and winter months and that is for burning in the winter after the winter. Confused yet?

Oops. That's the unseasoned stuff. It is seasoning. The year old stuff definitely goes into my converted woodshed complete with a plywood floor. Seasoned wood has to be under some kind of rain protection, or it isn't seasoned.

I hear what you're saying pertaining to climate - but I wonder if the wood you have available in the PNW is part of the mix too. Certainly, my maple and oak will sprout shrooms. But softwoods seem especially sensitive to environment. I do burn a goodly amount of while pine. Seems that if errant water finds a knot, it will permeate the heartwood and essentially need to be reseasoned in some cases. Or at least need a couple of good dry weeks to dry off after a soaking rain.

Around here in NH, there's a fair number of frugal yankees that will fuss with white pine but will buck between the whorls, leaving 2"-8" bucks of knots in the woods to obviate the problem.

Personally, everything gets sheded for me. Keeping wood under a roof allows you to burn punky/semispongey wood that's perfectly good dry - but which sponges up water and creates a rolling smoulder in the fire box.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

i stack mine on the front porch makes it easier too

 

[Whitespider]

1) Don't stack on the ground.
2) Don't stack more than two rows deep.
3) Start your stack with the cover, finish your stack with the cover.
4) Use the cover.
5) Stack in loose, don't pack it tight.

Or you could just stack on a moisture barrier, in single rows, out in the open, in full sun...

 

[VTWoodchuck]

Or you could just stack on a moisture barrier, in single rows, out in the open, in full sun...

Dang, that looks nice. :msp_thumbup:

 

[deepsouth]

So far I have aimed to fill up my undercover areas with already dry timber for next winter (being southern hemisphere, its now summer)..... I have under the front stairs (which are concrete) which takes about 1.5 cubic meters in a double stack, and under the side ramp, which takes maybe 2 cubic metres in a double stack......

Once they fill, I am out in the open, and have a 1000 square meter block (1/4 acre) to do what I want with. I do have a pretty large stack space set aside already for green timber I cut over winter that is in the open. The weather here is relatively mild, rarely get a frost due to being coastal and on the coast side of a ridge. Downside is exposure to driving rain and 50 knot winds in the winter storms.

Have thought about a woodshed but it would need 2-3 sides as we get the worst weather off Bass Strait from the North to North West, but equally can get nasty southerlys too..... and I need to season the Eucalypt (hardwood) I get - some is dead standing or just fallen dead dry timber off a block my boss has further south in a dry area, other is cut under permit from state forest from logging residue - tops, split trunks, etc.

And finally, I have decided it will just be easier to have a small steel shed or woodbox to move dry wood to for a reserve for bad weather (also noting that once the under stair/ramp storage areas are used they could be refilled on a dry day.....) so that is the plan - just need to get enough wood in for a year or two yet......

Might just be easier to get the 3.2 ton tandem trailer I want for wood getting - and put a roof on that, and burn direct out of it if I've been cutting dead dry timber....

 

[Retired]

Or you could just stack on a moisture barrier, in single rows, out in the open, in full sun...

Nice buck. What do you use for a moisture barrier?

 

[Whitespider]

Old, used, vinyl siding.

 

[sb47]

Down here I just stack it on pallets, 4’ high in rows and just lay a piece of old plywood or something of that sort on top and leave the rest open.
The plywood keeps the bulk of the rain off and it can air dry with no problems.
No tarp or plastic, they tend to trap moisture.